October 2, 2025

September 30th marks the one year anniversary of when this great adventure for me actually started - when the ship sailed out of Belfast Boatyard.

There were a lot of festivities on Board the ship, on this Sea Day. They started at 10 am with a trivia contest with our COO Mike & CEO Kathy, on Ship and Resident Facts, over the last year. They were playing against each other and Kathy's memory was by far better and luckier in her guesses, than Mike. Then their was a mural painting and numerous cocktail parties of various groups, all coming together at Dinner time, for one giant seating of 350 Residents in the Thistle Restaurant  for a special gala dinner, complete with cake. This was then followed by a fantastic pool party, on the upper deck, with the music again by DJ Shanti. The Residents and CREW all got to party, dance and drink together in a fantastic harmony until Midnight and the party even continued much later for some into the wee hours of morning! It was a FUN day with a great group of people, I so wish you could all experience!

MAGNETIC ISLAND - KOALA'S

By Patricia Patrick • February 15, 2026
We got up at 6:45am to get to National Park Forts Walk trail in the hope of seeing koalas . Prior walkers mark trails with tree branches pointing in the direction of their sighting and we were luck enough to see 3 markers in our first hour of hiking. It is so stinking hot and humid the success we had made it bearable. The koala population on the island started with 20 brought over in 1930, to escape fur hunters. Today, the island boast 800 to 1000, and they are so cute and drowsy. They need 20 hours of sleep a day! The early morning is when they are the most active.

MAGNETIC ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

By Patricia Patrick • February 14, 2026
Just off the coast of Townsville, Australia is a special little island (that used to be part of mainland, hundreds of thousands years ago). The island was formed by molten granite that was pushed to the earth's surface with volcanic force.Over time the volcanic overlay weathered away leaving an extraordinary landscape of rounded domes and boulders, many as big as a house and spectcularly perched. Over Seventy Percent of the center of the Island is a National Park. There is lots of wildlife here too - koalas, rock wallabies, snakes & birds.

CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA

By Patricia Patrick • February 14, 2026
This is my third time in CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA and I really enjoy how walkable, clean and charming it is. The waterfront esplanade and lagoon area is a nice walk day or night. We had 2 nights here in the waterfront Shangri La Marina Hotel while waiting for the Ship to arrive and then 2 additional days in Port.